Panel scribing apparatus



June 23, 1970 J. P. MCCAIN, JR

PANEL SCRIBING APPARATUS Filed June 5, 1969 INVENTOR JOHN P. McCAlN, JR.

UW jLJWL United States Patent 3,516,167 PANEL SCRIBIN G APPARATUS John P. McCain, Jr., 3350 Stockton Place, Palo Alto, Calif. 94303 Filed June 5, 1969, Ser. No. 830,703 Int. Cl. B431 13/02 US. CI. 33-41 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A scribing apparatus for use in preparing wall paneling and the like. The apparatus includes a novel combination of offset jigs and scribing elements which cooperate to precisely mark in accordance with a reference surface an edge of a panel member to be trimmed so that a precision fit between the panel and the surface may be obtained.

Background of the invention The present invention relates generally to panel scribing apparatus and, more particularly, to a novel set of tools for accurately marking panels to be installed at both inside and outside corners.

The installation of various finished wall materials is often complicated by the fact that the walls upon which the materials are to be fastened are almost always out of plumb at the corners. And seldom, if ever, are the intersections of the ceiling and the wall corners in absolutely straight plumb or level lines. For this reason any type of wall covering material which is to be fastened to the walls must be trimmed to match the irregularities which exist at the corners.

Where the Wall covering material is plywood paneling or the like, one usually starts at the center of a wall and mounts full size panels of the material being used adjacent one another progressing toward the two corners until the space remaining between the last full panel and the corner is less than a full panel in width. A partial panel is then trimmed to fit the existing corner snugly. Heretofore this fitting and trimming has been done more or less on a cut and try basis which is time consuming and often wasteful of material.

Objects of the invention It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a simple means for accurately marking panels to be installed at either inside or outside Wall corners so that they may be easily cut to fit snugly into the desired corner position.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel means for temporarily positioning a panel adjacent a corner and scribing the panel edge to match the contours of the corner wall so that the panel may be accurately cut to size.

Still another object of the present invention is to pro vide a novel wall material scribing tool which is simple in construction yet enables a panel to be accurately trimmed to precisely match an existing wall corner.

Summary of the present invention The present invention is comprised of one or more off set jigs and a marking gauge (scriber) which are utilized simultaneously to provide the desired panel scribing. The offset jigs are positioned at the near edge of the last full sized panel positioned next to the corner, and the present edge of the panel to be trimmed is placed into the ig so that the opposite edge of the short panel extends into the corner. The marking gauge is then placed in engagement with the panel, and with the guide surface thereof maintained against the wall it is drawn from ceiling to floor so as to scribe a line on the panel which matches the contour of the wall but is offset therefrom by a distance substan- Patented June 23, 1970 tially equal to the offset provided by the offset jigs. The panel can then be cut to precisely fit the corner.

An important advantage of the present invention is that the apparatus used to provide the desired scribing is simple and rugged in construction, and enables one man without assistance to easily scribe a panel to be installed at a corner.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the same apparatus can be used to scribe panels for installation at either inside or outside corners.

Still other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the following detailed disclosure of a preferred embodiment of the invention which makes reference to the several figures of the drawing.

In the drawing FIG. 1 is a perspective of a scribing jig in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective of a scriber or marking gauge in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective showing three walls of a room to illustrate the manner in which the present invention may be used.

FIG. 4 is a broken cross section illustrating the manner in which the invention is used to scribe a panel for insertion into an interior corner.

FIG. 5 is a cross section illustrating the manner in which the present invention is used to scribe an exterior corner panel.

Detailed description of the present invention In FIG. 1 of the drawing, there is shown an offset jig in accordance with the present invention which includes a means for permitting a predetermined offset or overlap to be maintained between two panels. The device 10 is generally comprised of a J-shaped body having a lateral projection 12 formed integral with the elongated portion 14 of the J-shaped body. The surface 13 of the projection 12 extends above the surface 15 by a predetermined distance which is typically the nominal thickness of the panel material to be prepared for installation.

The device 10 is constructed so as to have a predetermined separation between the sidewall 16 of the projection 12, and the trough 18 of the J-shaped body. The offset distance between the face 16 and the trough 18 might, for example, be chosen to be 1". The width of the device 10 may be of any suitable dimension, but in a preferred embodiment is approximately 1 /2" wide.

Extending through the offset 12 and the upper leg 14 of the J shaped body is a small bore 20 through which a nail or pin may be driven as will be described in more detail below. The leg 14 extends beyond the lateral projection 12 a distance of approximately A so that the claws of a hammer may be used to free the jig from the wall to which it is tacked after a panel section has been scribed.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the scribing complement to the offset device of FIG. 1 is illustrated. This device is comprised of a generally U-shaped body 24 having a flat end 26 and a scribing means 28 passing through the body 24 at a predetermined distance from the flat end 26. This predetermined distance is for reasons pointed out below slightly smaller than the offset distance between the faces 16 and 18 of the device illustrated in FIG. 1. The legs of the U-shaped body 24 are tapered slightly towards the ends 36 at 27 and 29 to avoid having the tool scratch the finished surfaces of the panels as it is marking the line of the cut.

Although the scribing means 28 may take any of a number of forms and may even include a knife edge or an electric router type means for actually cutting through the panel being prepared, in this preferred embodiment the illustrated element 28 is a screw means having a conical point 30 suitable for providing the desired inscription upon the surface of the panel being prepared.

The slot 32 in the body 24 is approximately 1 /2" deep so as to accommodate a rough cut panel edge as the device is used to scribe an outside corner panel in the manner illustrated in FIG. 5. The outside corner inscription is provided by a second scribing point 34 which is positioned at a predetermined distance from the end faces 36 of the member 24 so as to provide the desired spacing between the external wall contour and the scribed point as illustrated in FIG. below.

In FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 of the drawing, the manner in which the present invention is intended to be used is shown in detail. In FIG. 3, an arbitrary room end is illustrated having three interior corners 38, 40 and 42 and one exterior corner 78.

If V-groove panels are to be used, the walls are laid out so as to avoid having a groove fall at a corner, for obvious reasons. However, if the panels are plain, it is generally customary to first stick a plumb line at the center of each wall and use this as the starting point from which to work toward each corner. In accordance with this method, the panels to be afiixed to the side walls 46 and 48 might first be installed with the short panels 50 and 52 extending flush into the corners 38 and 42 respectively, as illustrated at 51 in FIG. 4.

Since the corner edge of the first panel to be installed in any interior corner will be covered by the other panel which abuts against it, this edge can be rough scribed and put in place so long as the gap between. the rough cut edge and the corner are less than the thickness of the paneling being utilized. Although the apparatus of the present invention has primary utility in providing precision fitting edges as will be described below it can likewise be used to provide a rough cutting line for corner panels such as 50 and 52 which need not necessarily be precision fit. The advantage of using the present invention is readily apparent however, where the existing corner wall is badly out of plumb or is severely warped. Each of these panels must, of course, be scribed to match the ceiling and this step will be understood and hereinafter omitted from the description.

The panels 54 and 56 are then mounted in abutting relationship over at the plumb line at 58. The panel 60 may be rough scribed and put in place as were the short panels 50 and 52, since the edge thereof placed in corner 40 will be covered by the subsequently installed panel 62. However, the short panel 66 which is to be mounted in the corner 68 must be finish trimmed along the edge fitting into the corner 68 and the apparatus of the present invention can be utilized to obtain the desired finish scribe. The panel 66 is first cut to be somewhat less than an inch oversize and the offset jigs are tacked in place against the edge of the panel 56 as illustrated in FIG. 4. The rough cut panel 66 is then positioned in the jig 10 and the edge 68 thereof is held firmly in place against the face 18.

The scriber 24 is then positioned. at the top, for instance, of the panel so that the point 30 engages the panel 66 and with the end 26 held firmly against the wall 52 the scriber is drawn along the wall 52 in the manner indicated so as to produce a scribe line 70' from the top to the bottom of the panel 66 which precisely follows the contour of the wall 52. The panel 66 is then removed from the jigs 10 and undercut along the line 70, and subsequently finished to the line 70 with a block plane, or the like.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the offset distance between the faces 16 and 18 of the jig 10 is one inch and the distance between the point 30 and the edge 26 of the scriber 24 is %,2 so that the panel 66 when finished to the line 70 will be approximately A inch oversized so as to insure a tight fit after it is fastened in place. As soon as the panel 66 is scribed and it is removed from the jig 10, the jigs which were previously tacked to the Wall 72 using suitable tacks or brads 74 can be removed by simply placing the claws of a hammer under the lip 22 to pry the device away from the wall 72.

After the panel 66 is in place, the panels 62 and 76 which form the outside corner 78 are ready to be cut and installed. This is accomplished by plumbing and tacking one of the panels in place and utilizing the scriber 24 to scribe the interior corner matching scribe line as was illustrated in FIG. 4. After this edge is prepared, the panel may be positioned and snugly held against the inside corner and the scriber is turned around and fitted over the other edge which extends beyond the outside corner 78 as shown in FIG. 5 so that the face 36 of the scriber 24 abuts the wall 80. The scriber 24 is then drawn from ceiling to floor so that the scribing element 34 will produce a scribe line along the face of the panel which is spaced away from the corner 78 a distance determined by the thickness of the paneling material so that a cut along the inscription can be made to match the other similarly prepared panel. Once the panels 62 and 76 are cut in accordance with this method, they may be assembled and the wall is complete.

As mentioned above, not only is the combination of offset jig and scriber useful for enabling the making of precision fitting panels such as in the case of panel 66, but it can also be used to prepare the other short panels such as 52, and even though the scribed edge will be covered by the intersecting panel. This novel combination of elements and the use thereof require such simple steps that it may even be quicker to use this device for the rough cuts that it would be to simnlv measure and draw a out line in the desired position.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in a very simplified embodiment, it is contemplated that many refinements can be made thereto. However, such refinements are not necessary to the full functioning of the inventive apparatus, and the simplified embodiment will provide a very accurate means for accomplishing the desired end.

As one modification, it will be noted that the scriber 28 could be replaced by a suitable cutting tool in the form of a sharpened blade, or even a power driven router in a much more elaborate system. Furthermore, the scriber could include a suitable handle means for enabling a better grip to be obtained where the material to be scribed is usually hard or a cutter is provided in place of the scribing point.

The two pieces of the apparatus, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, are ideally made of some rugged material such as aluminum or the like, but could be constructed from wood, steel, plastic, or any other suitable material. In the preferred embodiments hardened steel, cone point screws 28 and 34 are utilized.

While the invention has been described with reference to a specific preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that this description is only for purposes of illustration and is in no manner intended to be limiting. I therefore intend that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for use on preparing a wall member for insertion into a wall section whose sides are defined by a first reference line and a second reference line spaced therefrom comprising:

offset jig means for positioning a roughly sized panel section relative to the wall to which it is to be fastened such that a first edge thereof is in overlapping relationship with and spaced a predetermined distance from said first reference line and the opposite edge thereof is positioned proximate to but spaced from said second reference line; and

a scribing means including a reference line follower and a scriber spaced slightly less than said predetermined distance from said follower for scribing a trim line along said opposite edge of said Panel, said. trim line being described at a distance from said second reference line slightly less than said predetermined distance such that the shape of the area of said panel between said first edge and said trim line is substantially identical to the shape of the wall area separating said first reference line and said second reference line but is slightly oversized.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said offset jig means includes fastening means by which it may be securely positioned with respect to said first reference line.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein said fastening means is a tacking means and said offset jig means includes a means for facilitating extraction of said jig means from its tacked position.

4. Apparatus as recited in claim 3 wherein said scribing means is generally rectangular in shape and includes a slot passing thereinto, the width of said slot being slightly larger than the thickness of the panel material intended to be scribed, said scribing means also including a second scribing element extending into said slot and being spaced a second predetermined distance from a second planar surface of said scribing means.

5. Apparatus as recited in claim 4 wherein said offset jig means includes an elongated body portion having a first projection extending at right angles therewith and to one side of said body portion, and a second projection extending at right angles to said body portion and to the other side thereof, said projections being spaced along said body portion and separated from each other by said predetermined distance.

6. Apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein said offset jig means includes a fastening means for fastening said jig means to a selected surface and said scriber means includes a second scribing element and a second guide means which are spaced from each other by a second predetermined distance.

7. Apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein said jig means has a longitudinal cross section which is generally J-shaped and said scriber means has a longitudinal cross section which is generally U-shaped.

8. Apparatus as recited in claim 7 wherein said fastening means includes a bore through said body portion and said first projection, and a tack means, and wherein said scribing elements are cone point screw means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,155,542 10/1915 Bennett et al. 1,465,230 8/1923 Nikander 3342 2,726,451 12/1955 Johnson. 2,796,665 6/1957 Cossock. 3,127,681 4/1964 Aragon.

OTHER REFERENCES Popular Mechanics, Handy Scriber, August 1949, p. 205.

HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner 

